Exact-match anchors cut from 31% to 9%, rankings rose +5.6

Exact-match anchors cut from 31% to 9%, rankings rose +5.6

Affiliate site stuck on page 2, observational case, n=1 domain, 84 referring domains audited. The anchor profile was 31% exact-match commercial — well above the 5-10% we see on stable competitors.

We diluted it deliberately over 4 months:
— Added 22 branded/URL anchors
— Added 14 generic ('click here', 'this guide') anchors
— Exact-match share fell to 9%

Average position for the head term went from 16.2 to 10.6. No links removed — only the ratio changed via new acquisition.

One domain; relevance and freshness moved too. Not a clean experiment.

Fix an over-optimized anchor profile by acquiring branded anchors, not by removing existing links.